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Business Reporter
INDUSTRY and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha has urged local industry to use the import ban window to retool and increase domestic output saying the restriction would not be “forever”.
In response to industry concerns over the influx of cheap imports that have been blamed for pushing local firms out of business, the Government has promulgated Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016, which prohibits importation of several products that are locally available from the general imports.
“The imports ban isn’t forever. Its purpose is to support retooling and capitalisation of local firms but with time our companies will have to face competition in the global market,” Bimha told delegates at the just ended ZNCC 2016 congress in Victoria Falls.
He said the tightening of import regulations was necessary given that local companies have not been given adequate access to finance in the last decade, a period in which the country has been under biting illegal sanctions.
The minister said the wild reactions by cross border traders and retail players over imports restriction were normal as some people were benefiting from the previous arrangement.
He pleaded with Zimbabweans to support the government in revitalising local firms and improving the economy.
Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has also called for import substitution saying the new import rules were crucial in preserving jobs and enhancing capacity utilisation.
Industry captains have also backed the decision.
Zimbabwe’s manufacturing sector capacity utilisation has remained suppressed at around 30 percent, according to the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries.
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